RNOSC Brief following the IOC Communique and Video Conference with IOC President regarding the updates on corona virus issues 4 months before the Tokyo 2020.

Communique

On 17^th March 2020 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a communique regarding the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and on 18^th March 2020, President of IOC Dr. Thomas Bach had a video conference with the IOC stakeholders updating them on corona virus issues four months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 24^th. He particularly had discussions with the Presidents of African National Olympic Committees at 17:30.

1. President Thomas Bach informed the NOC Presidents that the situation around the COVID-19 virus is impacting the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and is changing day by day, but the IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.
2. President Bach has confidence that the many measures being taken by many authorities around the world will help contain the situation of the COVID-19 virus and will continue to act in a responsible way. The IOC will always be guided by the following principles: “1. to protect the health of everyone involved and to support the containment of the virus and 2. to painkillers the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport”.
3. To date, 57% of the athletes are already qualified for the Games. For the remaining 43% per cent of places, the IOC will work with the IFs to make any necessary and practical adaptations to their respective qualification systems for Tokyo 2020, in line with the following principles:
4. All quota places that have already been allocated to date remain allocated to the NOCs and athletes that obtained them.
5. The possibility remains to use existing and scheduled qualification events, wherever these still have fair access for all athletes and teams.
6. All necessary adaptations to qualification systems and all allocation of remaining places will be based on on-field results (e.g. IF ranking or historical results) and reflect where possible the existing principles of the respective qualification systems (e.g. use of rankings or continental/regional specific event results).
7. Any increase in athlete quotas will be considered on a case-by-case basis under exceptional circumstances, with the support of the Organizing Committee Tokyo 2020.
8. Any necessary revisions to the Tokyo 2020 qualification systems by sport will be published by the beginning of April 2020 and communicated to all stakeholders.

After consultations and discussions, all the IOC stakeholders (IFs, NOCs and Athletes) supported the initiatives taken by President Thomas Bach and the entire team of IOC and requested to remain regularly updated on the coronavirus issues and the preparations of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.